Search This Blog

Friday, August 12, 2016

What to tell would-be jihadis

Malcolm Turnbull has warned Australians fighting with the Islamic State that they face 'almost certain death'. He needn't encourage them. The Australian Prime Minister has apparently not yet learned that jihadis seek death and despise those who don't (Sura 2:94-96).

They might be told that their leaders have deceived them, and the
Islamic State has done great damage
to the Muslim cause.

They might be told that many Muslims who know more than they do consider their jihad to be null and void, so they risk being condemned as hypocrites and relegated to the lowest place in hell (Sura 4:145).

They might be told that with so many jihadi groups fighting
each other to attain paradise, they have no sure way of knowing which group
is on Allah's side, and they are playing Russian roulette with their eternal destiny. Not Smart.

They might be told that they can expect to be captured and banished to some desolate place for the rest of their long lives, without friend or family to comfort them.

They might be told that they are dragging themselves down the path to failure and disgrace in the eyes of their own community. (To be fair Malcolm Turnbull did almost say something like this, if accidentally.)

"They might be told that many Muslims who know more than they do consider their jihad to be null and void".

Really? I wish Dr Durie would point us to them. I find plenty of support in the Islamic tradition for groups like ISIS and that authoritative criticisms (from Al-Azhar and various groups of imams) tend to appear more like weaselly circumlocutions on closer inspection.

The details of what different clerics will find acceptable naturally varies -- some Muslims may espouse Gandhian non-violence, as Gandhi's friend Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (aka Bacha Khan) did, some may consider anti-US violence in Iraq or anti-Israeli violence in the Territories as freedom-fighting rather than terrorism, and some may focus on specific modes of violence such as suicide bombing.